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Frog and Toad are friends

Purdue University’s A Year With Frog and Toad celebrates friendship with lively songs and a warm spirit

By Eddie Torres

Fort Wayne Reader

2018-09-23

You can trust Purdue’s Theatre Department to start off its ‘18/’19 performance season by throwing Fort Wayne theater-goers a bit of a curve-ball. The school always offers a pretty diverse season, and gives its students and audiences something a little unexpected — a challenging drama; an lesser-known musical; a different take on a classic…

The musical A Year with Frog and Toad — which begins its run on September 21 — defies expectations, but maybe not in the way you’d think it would. It’s unusual because it’s so… “normal.” Based on the series of children’s books by Arnold Lobel, A Year With Frog & Toad chronicles the adventures of an optimistic and upbeat Frog and his sometimes cranky, worrywart friend Toad. I say “adventures,” but really, there’s not much derring-do in the lives of Frog and Toad and their friends in the neighborhood. As anyone who is familiar with the books can tell you (and the books are still in print), the stories have the structure and the gentle but sly humor of an old sitcom. A few of them have a sort of “O. Henry” twist to them.

In short, the stories are funny, sweet, warm and generous, and the musical is wholly in the spirit of the original source material. Nominated for several Tonys, A Year With Frog and Toad made its debut in 2002. When it came to Broadway the following year, Frog and Toad had the distinction of being the first “children’s show” to play Broadway in decades.

In the years since, A Year with Frog and Toad has become one of those rare musicals that really is “fun for the whole family.” The songs are very catchy and run the gamut of musical genres, the dialogue clever and lively. But most importantly, it’s able to tap into the seemingly simple emotions and joys of childhood without being sentimental or cloying, or resorting to snark… and without boring adults to tears.

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Purdue University Department of Theatre presents A Year with Frog and Toad

Fridays, September 21 and 28 at 8 PM

Saturdays September 22 and 29 at 2 pm and 8 pm
Thursday September 27 at 8 pm
Sunday September 23 at 2 pm

Tickets: $5/Purdue Fort Wayne students, high school students, and children under 18
All others $14 and $18

Box Office: (260) 481-6555
pfw.edu/tickets

Williams Theatre Purdue University North Campus2101 E. Coliseum Blvd